Bible Passage:  2 Samuel 2

Who is the second king of Israel?

*drum rolls*

It’s not David! It was actually the son of Saul, Ishbosheth. He ruled for 2 years before he was assassinated. So actually David is the third king of Israel.

David was only acknowledged in Judah as king at the beginning, and it was God who led him there.

As I read the chapters regarding David’s rise to power, it felt like it could be made into a period drama, with many ups and downs.

In fact, he even defected to the Philistines for a year, pretending to be raiding Israel for his Philistine lord.

So… David was the chosen king by God yet his rise to power was not an easy one.

Makes one wonder… if it is indeed the will of God, why is it so hard?

Do we sometimes also start to doubt if what we are doing according to what we believe in God’s will is really the right thing to do, especially when we meet with obstacles? Do we gradually feel disappointed with the lack of God’s blessing in trying to keep His will, and begin to try to take things into our own hands, finding justification for our compromises in faith, in order to deal with the difficulties we face?

Many things David did when he was escaping from Saul, including the period he defected to the Philistines, have been criticized by people and bible commentaries. I am not a historian or an expert in politics, so I find it hard to judge him for his actions. But I personally find that David it is commendable enough that he did not try to gain power using shortcuts, especially when he had opportunities to kill Saul. I think God had saved him from going up to war against Israel when his Philistine lord was truly convinced that he had become a real enemy of Israel.

So the impression I pick up from all these is, that we must keep the will of God in mind and always strive towards it, trying our best to live up to God’s righteousness, whatever obstacles we face. We should not lose faith in His promises. We may need to make hard decisions along the way, but as long as we always try, perhaps we might make some wrong decisions that put us in a tight spot, God knows when we do not mean it, and He will save us during critical times.